A huge jump up to the second-overall selection should see the Carolina Hurricanes land winger Andrei Svechnikov.

The Ottawa Senators were the biggest losers after entering the lottery with the second best odds, behind only the Buffalo Sabres, with a 13.5 per cent chance to win the top selection, but dropped to fourth overall.

The Carolina Hurricanes made the biggest move, jumping from No. 11 to No. 2 with a 3.7 percent chance to do so. They took Jeff Catrer (11th overall) and Mike Richards (24th) in 2003; Ivan Provorov (seventh) and Travis Konecny (24th) in 2015; and Nolan Patrick (second) and Frost previous year. "We'll get a good player for our organization".

"We know what's going to happen at No. 1, so by having the No. 2 pick at least we're going to control it", Waddell said. And they also selected Pierre Turgeon with top pick in 1987.

Scouts rate defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, 18, a Swedish Hockey League standouts, as the consensus No. 1 overall pick this year. "The value of trading at 11 is much less than trading the second overall pick at the draft". You think about how good your power play would look with him at the top, playing with Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson, and you get all excited.

The 15 National Hockey League teams that did not qualify for the Stanley Cup postseason participated in the lottery, which was held in Toronto.